The present invention relates generally to a connector that connects a circuit to an integrated circuit and also to a method of making an electric connector having parallel, but differently shaped terminals.
Many electronic devices require integrated circuit chips. These circuit chips are commonly mounted to a printed circuit board. Space on a circuit board is at a premium and often the need arises to connect such an integrated circuit to a series of circuits on another electronic device. In order to conserve space on the device's printed circuit board, it is advantageous to connect the integrated circuit directly to a connector, which is then mated with an opposing connector to establish a connection between the integrated circuit and a series of circuits of another device.
Many integrated circuit chips have a plurality of conductive leads that are connected to different circuits of a device. Often, one of the leads of the chip is not terminated to any circuit. In order to accommodate this aspect, integrated circuit chip connectors need to have conductive terminals of different shapes and/or lengths. Also, it is desirable that the ground lead of the integrated circuit chip be connected first to a circuit before connecting the remaining chip leads in order to protect the chip.
In making such a connector that has a series of parallel terminals which include at least one different-shaped terminal, two groups of these terminals of their different shape are separately stamped out of thin conductive sheet metal. The differently-shaped terminals are fixed, one after another, in separate locations in an insulating connector housing. Therefore, individual actions are required for the stamping of terminals having different shapes and then separately fixing them in different locations in a connector housing. Thus, the number of dies and manufacturing steps with such connectors inevitably increases leading to a loss in manufacturing efficiency.
The present invention is directed to both a novel connector structure and a method for making such connectors.